has completed a 13.78 MW solar photovoltaic power system at Naval Air
Weapons Station China Lake (NAWS China Lake) in Calif. Using SunPower's
modules, the plant is generating the equivalent of more than 30% of NAWS
China Lake's annual energy load, the company says.

Using a
long-term energy procurement authority (US Code Section 2922A), the
power plant is the first federal agency project to be financed through a
20-year term solar power purchase agreement (PPA), SunPower adds. The
20-year PPA allows the Navy to secure electricity at up to 30% below the
rate available through shorter duration 10-year PPAs.

An
affiliate of MetLife Inc. purchased the system, which SunPower designed
and built. The company installed its SunPower Oasis Power Plant product,
a fully integrated, modular solar power block integrating the SunPower
T0 Tracker with solar panels, pre-manufactured system cabling, the Oasis
inverter and the Oasis operating system.

As the U.S. presidential election approaches, U.S. voters
are being bombarded with anti-solar ads, courtesy of super-PACs backed
by fossil-fuel industries. Last month at Solar Power International,
Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) President and CEO Rhone Resch
told attendees that 80% of negative campaign ads target clean energy.

Meanwhile,
the presidential candidates themselves - as well as their respective
political parties - have made clear their stark differences in their
approaches to funding (or not funding) solar energy technologies and
project development.

Whether through acceptance speeches at the recent Republican National Convention and Democratic National Convention or in formal policyposition papers, Republican nominee Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama have presented divergent views on U.S. energy policy.

But as Romney and Obama prepare to go head to head in their first televised debate this week, a new national survey reveals - perhaps surprisingly - that most voters of all political stripes actually support solar.

"On
the eve of our first presidential debate, I can say that public support
for solar has never been stronger," Resch said during a conference call
discussing poll results.

According to the survey, which was
conducted by Hart Research for SEIA, more than 9 in 10 - 92% - of voters
believe it is "important" for the U.S. to develop and use more solar
energy. Fifty-eight percent described developing more solar as "very
important," while 34% thought it was "somewhat important."

The
poll, which was conducted online and included responses from 1,206
adults, was deliberately structured to include a larger-than-usual share
of swing voters, noted Molly O'Rourke, a partner at Hart Research.

"We
wanted to focus on the opinions of likely voters," she explained during
the conference call. "In particular, we wanted to capture the opinions
of swing voters."

Those swing voters generally were found to have
favorable views of solar energy and government programs, such as tax
credits and other incentives, designed to accelerate solar deployment.

Overall,
78% of respondents said that the federal government should provide
financial incentives for solar; 79% of swing voters agreed. Ninety-one
percent of Democrats surveyed supported this type of government support,
as did 78% of independents and 63% of Republicans.

Despite all
the political fallout from bankrupt solar module manufacturer Solyndra
and the resultant investigations into the Department of Energy's
loan-guarantee program, a large number of voters from both political
parties, as well as independents, stated that the government should do
more to help promote solar power.

Although the share of Democrats
(83%) and indepedents (80%) with that view was larger than the share of
Republicans (50%) who agreed, 70% overall wanted to see the government
play a larger role in promoting solar power - a "strong majority,"
according to Hart Research.

According to O'Rourke, it is unusual
to see such a high number of voters extend their support of a particular
cause or issue into agreeing that government should provide funding.
"This is not an automatic or obvious jump to make," she pointed out.
"There are many things that voters like and feel good about that they
still don't want the government to play a role in."

In addition,
voters' "good feelings" about solar were firmly grounded in specific
attributes - another rare finding in these types of political surveys,
O'Rourke says.

Solar's environmental friendliness ranked at the
top among swing voters and survey respondents in general. Respondents
also praised solar power's potential to reduce electricity costs and the
U.S. dependence on foreign oil, as well as its capacity for supporting
U.S. jobs.

Voters even showed a clear preference for solar over
other forms of renewable energy: When asked which energy source (if any)
the federal government should support, 64% selected solar. Wind power
placed second at 57%, followed by hydropower, at 38%. Notably, however,
20% of respondents said that no tax subsidies or incentives should be
provided to any energy source.

Similarly, when asked to describe
their overall impressions of various types of renewable and nonrenewable
energy types, respondents ranked solar at the very top, with 85%
stating that they had a positive impression.

"While there are
certainly other favorable energy sources on this list - including wind
power, hydropower and natural gas - none of them rival the favorable
feelings around solar," O'Rourke said.

Solar professionals will
likely find such results encouraging, but they must also be aware that
some of the public's standard qualms persist.

For instance,
two-thirds of respondents still think that solar power is "too expensive
for most consumers," and more than half (54%) believe that solar is
impractical for many regions of the U.S.

Additionally, whether as
a consequence of super-PACs' anti-solar ads or as a result of other
factors, a sizeable number of voters - 42% - stated that the federal
government's promotion of solar power has caused "wasteful" government
spending. Forty-three percent of swing voters expressed similar
concerns.

Doubts about reliability and efficiency also cropped
up, with 29% of respondents agreeing with the statement that solar is
inefficient and 27% agreeing that solar is not reliable.

SEIA's
Resch suggested that consumers' top concern - costs - may be a result of
lagging perceptions. Industry professionals know that module prices
have dropped precipitously in recent years, but the average voter does
not pore over market research reports on a regular basis.

"Obviously,
the industry is doing what we can to lower costs, and we need to
continue to communicate to consumers what's happening," Resch said.

Walmart plans to install a PV array at its Buckeye, Ariz., distribution center near Phoenix.

The distribution center will feature Walmart's
largest solar installation to date, with over 14,000 solar panels on a
1,000,000 square-foot building and parking canopies that will produce up
to 30% of the center's energy needs. Walmart did not reveal details on
the megawatt output of the system.

This is the company's second
distribution center solar project in Arizona, following its 2 MW project
in Casa Grande, Ariz., that used a combination of ground mounted and
solar shaded parking canopy structures.

Earlier this week, Walmart was named the U.S.' top company for the use of solar energy by the Solar Energy Industries Association and the Vote Solar Initiative.

Solar power's detractors frequently describe solar as "secretly" non-environmentally-friendly. They point to the PV module manufacturing process,
utility-scale arrays' potential impacts to land and wildlife, and
concentrating solar power (CSP) plants' on-site water usage as examples
of attributes that negate the environmental benefits of deploying this
renewable energy source.

But when all of the impacts are
considered and all the costs are tallied, how does solar compare to
other common energy sources? A new report
called "The Hidden Costs of Electricity: Comparing the Hidden Costs of
Power Generation Fuels" suggests that the indirect or externalized costs
of fossil fuels, nuclear power and biomass still outweigh those of
solar power.

Researchers analyzed solar power and five other
energy sources (biomass, coal, nuclear, natural gas and wind) in several
categories: water impacts, climate change impacts, air pollution
impacts, planning and cost risk, subsidies and tax incentives, land
impacts and other impacts.

The report, prepared by Synapse Energy
Economics Inc. for the nonprofit and nonpartisan Civil Society
Institute and the Environmental Working Group, concluded that "huge
demands on increasingly scarce water are a major hidden cost of a
business-as-usual approach to American electricity generation that needs
to be more fully understood by policymakers and the public."

Solar
power, however, did not rank as a prime offender in this critical
water-usage category. Rather, nuclear power, coal-fired power, biomass
and natural gas (obtained via fracking) were called out as particularly
water-intensive energy sources. Open-looped coal-fired power plants, for
instance, use between 20,000 and 50,000 gallons/MWh. Although most of
the water is reclaimed, it is returned at a higher temperature and lower
quality.

"By contrast, wind and solar photovoltaic power
requires little water in the electricity generation process," the report
states. "Concentrating solar power requires water for cooling purposes,
but new technologies are placing greater emphasis on dry cooling.

"Solar
power plants with dry cooling use only around 80 gallons per
megawatt-hour - about a tenth of the low-end estimate for nuclear power
and one-sixth of the low-end estimate for coal-fired power generation,"
the report adds.

Breaking down costs
The
report summarizes each energy source's hidden costs by assigning a
color-coded level: red (high costs), yellow (moderate costs) or green
(low costs). Solar appears to boast one of the most favorable color-code
profiles of the six energy sources examined.

Both PV and CSP are
deemed to pose low costs (green level) for planning and cost risk,
climate-change impacts, air-pollution impacts and "other impacts."
Naturally, larger projects can present more planning risk than
smaller-scale projects, but because most projects are developed by
non-utility companies, ratepayer risk is reduced.

For certain
types of thin-film PV, the usage of toxic cadmium has provoked
criticism. According to the report, one recent study of lifecycle
cadmium emissions for systems using cadmium-telluride modules measured
such emissions to be approximately 0.3 g/GWh.

"The use of heavy
metals in PV cells raises questions about the disposal of panels at the
end of their useful lives," the report warns. "Regulations governing the
handling and recycling of retired PV panels are needed to ensure that
metals do not leach into soil or groundwater."

In response to
these concerns and other considerations, the solar sector has stepped up
recycling efforts in recent years. Earlier this week, for instance,
Tempe, Ariz.-based pv recycling llc and CERES, a Paris-based nonprofit, entered a new partnership agreement to provide module manufacturers in the U.S. and Europe with coordinated recycling services.

Solar's
subsidies and tax incentives, as well as land impacts, are rated as
moderate. Although distributed-generation rooftop PV occupies no land,
some utility-scale plants have caused concern regarding their impact on
threatened species' habitat, the report notes.

Not surprisingly,
PV ranks ahead of CSP in the water-usage category. Lifetime water
withdrawals for PV are estimated to be between 225 and 520 gallons/MWh,
with thin film generally beating out crystalline silicon. Wet-cooled
parabolic-trough CSP plants may use approximately 1,240 gallons/MWh,
whereas dry-cooled plants may use approximately 290 gallons/MWh.

The
preliminary findings on CSP water usage "provide useful starting points
for assessing lifecycle CSP water impacts," the report notes, adding
that additional research is needed.

Overall, although the report
does not explicitly call for greater usage of solar power or other
renewable energy sources over others, it strongly encourages utilities,
policymakers and the public to consider more than the more commonly
examined direct costs when evaluating various energy options.

"Too
often left out of the equation are a number of important hidden costs …
associated with each generation technology," says Geoff Keith, senior
associate at Synapse Energy Economics, in the report. "While direct
costs (the monetary cost to build and operate a generating plant) are
important to consumers, so too are these indirect costs, whether or not
they can be easily expressed in monetary terms."

A new report
reveals the top 20 companies that use solar energy to power their
facilities in the U.S. The report, released by the Solar Energy
Industries Association and the Vote Solar Initiative, ranks the
companies on cumulative solar energy capacity.

Here are the top 20 companies for the use of on-site, deployed solar power capacity in the U.S.:

Notably, the top 20 corporate solar users’
installations generate an estimated $47.3 million worth of electricity
each year, and the amount of solar installed by the top 20 solar-powered
companies could power more than 46,500 average U.S. homes. (Altogether,
U.S. commercial solar installations could power more than 390,000 U.S.
homes.)

The companies analyzed for this report have deployed more
than 700 individual solar photovoltaic systems on their facilities in
at least 25 states and Puerto Rico. More than 1.2 million solar PV
panels were used for the top 20 corporate solar users’ installations.
Combined, these arrays would cover more than 544 acres of rooftops.

Solar Power International (SPI) attendees were treated to a
high-profile pep talk from none other than a former U.S. president on
Thursday.

Weaving encouraging words, insider policy advice and a
couple of allegorical Arkansas anecdotes into his keynote address,
President Bill Clinton reassured the industry crowd that solar power
can, indeed, flourish in the U.S.

"I love what you guys are
doing," Clinton told the audience, which filled the Orange County
Convention Center's large Valencia ballroom and spilled into two
overflow viewing rooms. "This place is full of entrepreneurs."

Unfortunately,
he added, much of solar's recent success - and, especially, the vital
role that the federal government has played in bolstering the industry -
has gone unnoticed or been misconstrued by Americans outside the
industry.

"Most people don't know that in spite of economic
adversity, government support and venture capital have catapulted the
U.S. to lead clean energy investment in 2011," Clinton noted. "They
don't know how much public-private cooperation there is."

Solar
power's perception gap - a challenge familiar to the industry - was a
recurring theme in Clinton's speech, as he cited statistics about job
creation, solar project deployment totals and other industry growth
metrics, with each fact preceded by "most don't know that…"

For
instance, Germany recently generated the equivalent of 20 nuclear power
plants with PV, despite the country's limited solar resource. Although
opponents of Germany's solar program have claimed that the government
"threw money at solar and practically bankrupted the country," hard
numbers from apolitical sources have proven otherwise, he noted.

Similarly, here in
the U.S., where incentives for solar power and other renewable energy
have become an increasingly politicized issue, a study from the Baker
Center (named for Republican Senator Howard H. Baker Jr.) found that
government support given to renewables is perfectly in line with
subsidies given to other industries, Clinton added.

"Americans don't know that, but they need to know that," he stressed.

No
solar company has been used as heavily in the political and public case
against supporting solar as failed thin-film manufacturer Solyndra -
which, according to critics, was a symbol of corruption and wasted
taxpayer money spent on an undeserving industry. Clinton offered some
tough love for solar professionals who wanted to reshape the nefarious
Solyndra story told to Americans.

"You can't blame people for
reacting to an isolated incident out of context if you don't provide the
context and the other side of the story," he pointed out.

Clinton
added that he saw Solyndra as a company with an innovative yet
expensive technology that failed to reach volume and bring its costs
down quickly enough to compete - especially once the Chinese government
doled out billions to their domestic solar manufacturing industry.

"Since
no one explained that to the American people, they can be forgiven for
listening to the worst possible explanation," he said. He urged solar
companies and their partners to "get the basic positive facts out there"
in order to counteract the negativity.

Anti-solar political
attack ads laced with Solyndra references will fade after the November
presidential election, but what about afterward? Solar Energy Industries
Association (SEIA) President and CEO Rhone Resch told Clinton in a
post-keynote Q&A session that SPI attendees were all eager to know
the former president's thoughts on the fate of the solar sector under
either a Mitt Romney presidency or a second term under President Barack
Obama.

The two candidates often offer more clues into their plans
than voters may realize, Clinton said. "My advice is that you should
assume they will do what they say and attempt to know what they say," he
suggested. "Politicians are much more honest with the voters than you
think they are during campaigns."

As for known specifics, Clinton
added that Romney has said he would eliminate clean energy tax breaks,
while Obama will likely seek to bring back the U.S. Department of the
Treasury's Section 1603 program, which expired last year.

Renewable
energy incentives, however, have historically enjoyed bipartisan
recognition of their economic benefits. For instance, Clinton noted that
President George W. Bush provided tax credits to wind power companies
while serving as governor of Texas, thus helping propel the state's boom
in wind energy development and create significant private investment.

"Around
the world, no one makes energy policy without public-private
cooperation," Clinton stressed. Nongovernmental organizations may also
begin to play a larger role, especially in developing nations. For
instance, houses being built as part of a post-earthquake redevelopment
effort in Haiti - home to extremely high electricity rates - must now be
equipped with PV-ready roofs.

Back in the U.S., numerous forces
are in solar's favor - despite the aforementioned public-perception
issues, Clinton said. For instance, California's aggressive 33%
renewable portfolio standard, falling PV module prices, a growing
interest among utilities in large-scale plants, and the widespread
availability of state-level tax credits will all help solar reach what
Clinton believes is an inevitable tipping point.

"You're going to win this battle," Clinton assured the crowd. "The question is where and when and how."

Photo provided with permission from SEIA and the Solar Electric Power Association.

Solar module prices continued their downward trend in
July, falling by more than 2% over June's average prices and 44%
annually, according to the latest monthly module price report from IMS
Research (recently acquired by IHS Inc.).

PV module prices had
enjoyed a short period of stability in June due to high demand in
Germany and Italy, but they have begun to decline once again in the
second half of this year.

According to the report, average prices
of crystalline PV modules purchased from distributors increased by
almost 3% in June. The increase was driven by high demand in Germany,
the world's largest PV market.

Demand peaked in Germany in June
as developers rushed to connect systems by June 30, before the end of
the grace period for the country's previous, more attractive
feed-in-tariff (FIT) rates expired.

Distributors were able to
capitalize on strong demand, giving rise to higher pricing in the run-up
to the deadline, IMS Research adds.

The resulting slowdown in
demand following Germany's grace-period deadline, coupled with the bleak
outlook for demand in the second half of the year in Europe, meant that
module prices slipped again in July by 2.4%, according to the report.

Chinese
tier-one module prices declined by almost 3%, while the largest decline
came from Western suppliers, whose prices declined by more than 5%.

"PV
module prices enjoyed a rare period of stability in June, but are once
again under pressure, as demand in a number of core markets has weakened
in the second half of the year," says Sam Wilkinson, senior analyst in
IMS Research's PV group. "Although the industry has seen a number of
significant exits from the market in the recent months, supply of PV
modules still far exceeds demand, and suppliers are continuing to engage
in fierce price competition."

Module prices have consistently
declined throughout the year, but IMS Research says the outlook for
prices this month is positive. In fact, on average, industry buyers and
sellers expect prices to increase by 0.3% in August, according to the
results of an industry survey cited in the report.

However,
expectations varied clearly by company type: Module suppliers and
integrators tended to forecast an additional slight decrease in module
prices, while distributors surveyed expected a small increase.

"PV
module suppliers' margins are already dangerously low and, in some
cases, negative, and their ability to lower prices any further is
severely limited until they can make significant improvements to their
cost structures," Wilkinson notes.

Feeling the strain
These price pressures have been reflected in the financial performance of both Western and Chinese module suppliers. SolarWorld said earlier this week
that it would not achieve positive earnings this year, and as
second-quarter results have started to come in from other major
manufacturers, analysts and investors have expressed concern.

Canadian
Solar, for instance, posted numbers this week that were widely
described as disappointing. Despite faring better than some other
manufacturers at this time simply by not being in a state of bankruptcy
or insolvency, the company recorded a loss of $25.5 million, even as
solar module shipments increased to 412 MW.

Canadian Solar also
reported a gross profit of $43.2 million, compared to $63.7 million at
the same time last year. The continued fall of PV module prices, as
described in IMS Research's report, were - not surprisingly - to blame.

"The
year-over-year decline in gross profit was primarily due to the decline
in average selling prices over the past several quarters, partially
offset by lower manufacturing costs, higher shipment volume and the
positive effect of the warranty insurance adjustment," Canadian Solar
explained in its financial-results announcement.

Like many other
solar manufacturers, Canadian Solar is seeking to weather the storm by
bolstering its downstream business. During the second quarter, the
company completed construction of an 11.5 MW PV plant in Ontario - a
project that is expected to generate revenue in the third quarter.

"By
focusing on these manageable projects, we expect to reduce financing
and execution risks, and enjoy a greater level of predictability in our
business," said Dr. Shawn Qu, chairman and CEO of Canadian Solar, in the
financial statement.

Meanwhile, San Jose, Calif.-based SunPower, which has long made project development a part of its business model, was viewed as faring better than much of the rest of the module manufacturer pack.

For the second quarter, the company reported a net loss of $84.2 million. This figure represented an improvement over the second quarter of 2011, when SunPower posted a loss of $147.9 million.

SunPower "remains well positioned to gain share in the North American residential market and is making good progress on the cost-reduction front," noted Deutsche Bank analyst Vishal Shah in a research note. "The company is also likely to benefit from a flight to quality (modules and balance sheet) given superior technology, as well as [its] strategic partnership with Total."

The company is not, however, exempt from the difficult conditions in Germany and the rest of the European PV sector.

"Europe
remains a very challenging market, and we are looking at a number of
strategies to improve our long-term performance in the region," said Tom
Werner, CEO of SunPower, in the company's financial statement.

Several
other large publicly traded module manufacturers, including Trina Solar
and Yingli Solar, plan to announce their second-quarter results later
this month.

,
a designer and manufacturer of solar power mounting systems, will
establish a production and distribution facility in Shelby, N.C.,
according to the office of Gov. Bev Perdue, D-N.C.

In July, Schletter announced it was moving its U.S. headquarters to an East Coast city that, at the time, had yet to be disclosed.

The
company plans to create 305 jobs in North Carolina by the end of 2016,
and invest more than $27 million in its Cleveland County facility. The
project was made possible in part by state grants from the Job
Development Investment Grant and the One North Carolina Fund, Perdue's
office notes.

The new facility will serve as the production and
distribution hub of Schletter's East Coast operations and house all
functions required to produce the company's eight types of solar
mounting systems. In addition to the manufacturing operations, the
Shelby location will become Schletter's U.S. headquarters.

SunPower installs 11 solar systems for Scottsdale Unified School District

15. May 2012 | By: SunPower Corp.

Today, Scottsdale Unified School District and
SunPower Corp. are celebrating the installation of 5.5 megawatts of high
efficiency SunPower solar power systems at 11 District schools. The
systems are expected to reduce the District's electricity costs by $25
million over the next 25 years.

"This project will allow Scottsdale Unified School District to
reduce our electricity costs at the schools receiving these systems by
half, to recover valuable funds needed for our academic programs and to
pay for upgrades," said Superintendent Dr. David J. Peterson. "By
partnering with SunPower, we are maximizing those savings as well as
having clean, renewable energy generated at our schools. It is the right
thing to do for our students and our community."

SunPower is installing the systems on rooftops as well as on solar
shade structures in parking lots, taking advantage of underutilized
space and providing needed shade. The systems use high efficiency
SunPower solar panels, the most efficient panels on the market today.
All systems are expected to be complete and operational before the end
of September.

"Scottsdale Unified School District can rely on its high efficiency
SunPower solar systems to deliver guaranteed performance for the next 25
years or more," said Howard Wenger, SunPower president, regions.
"School districts across the nation are finding solar power to be a
great way to reduce operating costs and repurpose the savings to the
classroom. SunPower has found it extremely rewarding to deliver needed
savings to our public schools and we commend Scottsdale Unified for its
commitment to using solar power."

The project was facilitated in part by the APS Renewable Energy
Incentive Program, which offers financial incentives to customers
helping to offset up to 40 percent of the costs of installing solar
energy.

The District's systems were financed through Qualified School
Construction Bonds (QSCBs), allowing them to own the systems and receive
the full benefit of the energy cost savings and APS incentive payments.

According to estimates provided by the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency, Scottsdale Unified School District solar power systems will
avoid production of 176,900 tons of carbon dioxide emissions over the
next 30 years, the equivalent of removing 31,000 cars from Arizona's
highways.

Demand for solar PV energy in the U.S. continues to gain
considerable traction. During 2011, installed PV capacity reached the 2
GW level, with 880 MW allocated to the commercial sector and 760 MW to
the utility segment.

However, this growth has not been realized
without certain challenges. Indeed, often years of negotiation take
place prior to any project's completion. Issues typically focus on where
and how to host the array, what size it should be, what products to
use, who will purchase the electricity generated and how the entire
project should be funded.

Over the next few years, utility-scale
PV installations in the U.S. are set to grow substantially. In fact,
over 24 GW of these projects are currently in the planning stages. Some
have already assigned system developers and issued contracts, while
others are currently in the “at-risk” category, as they are still
awaiting power purchase agreements or project financing.

It is
likely that federal and state policies will ultimately dictate which
locations are targeted most by PV developers. Although every state in
the U.S. now boasts some level of commercial or utility PV capacity,
California and New Jersey continue to dominate PV projects installed in
the U.S.

In recent years, California’s contribution to planned or
installed PV projects reached 80% of national demand. However, when all
PV projects in the pipeline over the period from 2010 to 2015 are
considered, California’s share may decline to below 30%.

Another
interesting trend is that nearly 30% of all planned or installed PV
projects in the U.S. now fall into the 1 MW to 5 MW category. In North
Carolina, the PV landscape has been changing recently from PV
installations at the 1 MW level to include several larger planned
projects at the 5 MW level.

However, the U.S.’ increase in
megawatt-scale PV deployment does not always command widespread support.
In fact, several planned installations have recently been met with
opposition from the general public, local councils or environmental
groups.

Often, the use of land with a historical or cultural
significance - or land fit for agriculture or other use - can provoke
conflict and even legal challenges. This often forces the different
parties into reaching a workable compromise, but can, under certain
circumstances, result in the full withdrawal of the planned PV project.

Market segments
PV
market segmentation remains highly diverse across the U.S. - unlike in
some European countries, which are starting to impose restrictions on
large megawatt-scale installations in favor of roof-mounted PV.

In
the U.S, there remain many viable options for where to host PV arrays.
Although ground-mounted PV installations hold most of the capacity in
the U.S, rooftop installations still account for almost half of the
planned or installed U.S. PV projects.

Large retailers are making
significant commitments to install PV on their warehouses, stores and
distribution centers. This style of installation often uses
otherwise-wasted space and has the upside potential of bringing new
employment opportunities to local installers.

In fact, despite
the large investment levels typically involved, these types of retailers
are often more likely to obtain bank financing for a PV installation
project than small business owners. Small businesses, school districts
and municipalities tend to welcome third-party ownership of their PV
array through roof or land leases. These can provide benefits to the
array host without the initial financial outlay.

Finally, in areas where suitable locations for PV projects may be more difficult to find, new options are appearing.

One
such example involves floating PV arrays, which are suspended on a body
of water. This style of installation is particularly attractive in
regions where land space is highly valued as a commodity, such as on
vineyards.

Another example is portable arrays that begin their
life as ground-mounted but are later relocated onto a rooftop or moved
to another site altogether. Building-integrated options are also being
increasingly considered, as are capped landfills.

Additionally,
some PV carport installations are over 1 MW in size and constructed on
parking garages, while others are used in parking lots, car dealerships,
schools and walkways to protect vehicles and people from the elements.
They can also include charging facilities for electric cars

.

Christine
Beadle is an analyst at market research firm NPD Solarbuzz. She leads
research efforts for the United States Deal Tracker and contributes to a
comprehensive database resource for all PV projects throughout the U.S.
Beadle can be contacted at cb@solarbuzz.com.